Report critical of security in vote machines

County, company officials contest claim that hackers could rig Diebold system

By Jeff McDonald
UNION-TRIBUNE STAFF WRITER
August 4, 2003

San Diego County is pushing ahead with plans to invest tens of millions of dollars in an electronic voting system despite dire warnings from experts that the technology may not be safe from ballot-rigging.

Critics say government agencies nationwide are ignoring the warnings, in part because of close relationships between elections officials and the handful of companies that manufacture voting equipment.

The nation has moved rapidly toward electronic voting since the 2000 presidential election controversy in Florida.

But activists and at least one member of Congress have called for more scrutiny of the technological shift in the way democracy is exercised.

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A panel convened by California Secretary of State Kevin Shelley to review touch-screen voting recommended last month against requiring a voter-verified paper record. Task force member Kim Alexander dissented, saying that without a hard copy, voters can never be certain their ballots were counted properly.

"Legitimate government in this country happens when people are able to exercise their right to vote with confidence," said Alexander, president of the California Voter Foundation, a nonprofit elections watchdog group based in Sacramento. "Consent of the governed cannot be won if elections are conducted in secret."

Editor's Note: Ignoring warnings? Dispite DIRE warnings? Recommended AGAINST a verified voter paper record? What's wrong with these people??!!!!! Oh, let me guess.... they're all republicans, perhaps?

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